This invention relates in general to dental devices, and more particularly to the type of devices for removing temporary crowns.
Significant advances have been made in the last few decades in the care and treatment of people""s teeth. Not only are there a host of personal teeth care appliances and teeth cleaning agents, but significant advances have also been made in the general practice and general dentistry field. It has become a common practice to repair teeth by placing a crown or artificial tooth structure over the existing (remaining) nondecayed structure. The original tooth is generally prepared by grinding a major portion of the tooth away, leaving only the remaining structure. A mold is made of the prepared tooth structure, so that a crown can be fabricated. In the meantime, the patient is fitted with a temporary crown so that normal chewing functions can be carried out during the time in which the permanent crown is made. A crown remover of this type is described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 3,834,026.
During the procedure in fitting the temporary crown and grinding the original tooth structure, numerous attempts are generally made to fit the temporary crown on the remaining tooth structure, as far as height and concavity are concerned. In doing so, various types of pliers and other appliances have been constructed so as to firmly grip the temporary crown for placement on the remaining tooth structure. The pliers generally include a rounded set of jaws to firmly grip the crown so as to fit it on the remaining tooth structure, as well as remove it for grinding adjustments to either the remaining tooth structure or the temporary crown.
Frequently, in the placement or removal of the temporary crown from the remaining tooth structure, the crown inadvertently loses its grip from the pliers, and falls or otherwise becomes dislodged in the patient""s mouth. In other more serious occurrences, the patient can inadvertently swallow or aspirate the crown. This is especially troublesome when the crown fitting operation is carried out on the upper teeth of a patient. The occurrences with which the temporary crowns are inadvertently dropped in the patient""s mouth are frequent during the training of dental students.
Pliers-type appliances that are forged to be short are not often used for the reason that they cannot easily access a patient""s teeth with an unobstructed view, especially the posterior teeth.
It can be seen from the foregoing, that a need exists for a technique for easily recovering a dropped crown so that it does not fall in the patient""s mouth. Another need exists for a dental appliance that is long and forged for easier access and that is equipped with a basket for catching a dislodged crown to prevent it from falling into the patient""s mouth. Another need exists for a dental appliance that can deflect or catch a crown, onlay or other similar device dislodged from the dental appliance. Another need exists for a crown remover that allows easier access in a patient""s mouth to posterior teeth for installing and removing a crown thereon. Yet another need exists for various crown grips shaped to facilitate the removal of crowns. An additional need exists for a crown remover adapted for removably attaching various tips thereto, where the tips have different shaped crown grips.
In accordance with the principles and concepts of the invention, there is disclosed a dental appliance for reducing those occurrences in which a dislodged or dropped crown falls within the patient""s mouth. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, a pliers appliance includes a pair of handles that can be gripped by the dentist, with jaws at the opposing ends shaped to conform to the crown curvature to firmly grip it. In accordance with an important feature of the invention, at least one of the jaws of the pliers appliances includes a basket structure for catching or deflecting the crown, should it fall or become dislodged from the jaws of the appliance.
In accordance with another feature of the invention, the basket structure is constructed of a flexible wire mesh so as to flex during opening and closing of the jaws of the pliers appliance.
In yet another embodiment of the invention, a tip of the appliance is constructed to include a grip that is shaped to grasp an onlay for applying the same to a tooth. The onlay tip of the invention is planar so that the shape thereof can grip the onlay structure without the tooth itself interfering with installing the onlay on the tooth.
The many embodiments may include various tips removably attached thereto, where each tip can have a different shaped crown grip. The various crown grips are shaped to facilitate different shaped crowns, onlays, etc.